Testimony: Lafayette Martin ID's longtime boyfriend as her shooter, died of blood loss within 24 hours

SAGINAW, MI — Minutes after Clinton J. Miller called 911 to report that somebody shot Lafayette Martin, he found himself handcuffed as the suspect in his longtime girlfriend's injury, police testified Thursday, Dec. 2.

But what made Miller the suspect wasn't what he told authorities — it was Martin's answer to a question that Miller never answered.

Saginaw Police Officer Dan Hernandez testified during Miller's preliminary hearing that he arrived at Miller's home just before 3 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, and began speaking with the 53-year-old Miller.

Hernandez said he asked Miller if there was a woman in the house who had been shot, and Miller said “Yup,” then pointed and said, “She's right there.”

Nobody else was in the house, Hernandez said. The officer then pushed Miller up against a wall, handcuffed him, and had him escorted from the house, he testified.

Based on Hernandez's testimony as well as that of two other officers and Miller's 911 call, Saginaw County District Judge Terry L. Clark ruled that probable cause exists for prosecutors to take Miller to trial in Circuit Court.

Miller is charged with an open count of murder and three firearm offenses in the 49-year-old Martin's death. If convicted of first-degree murder, which is included in an open count of murder, Miller would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Saginaw Police Detective Matthew Gerow has told The Saginaw News that Martin and Miller were domestic partners for about 30 years and that there is “a long history of domestic violence perpetrated against her by him.” Martin was not living at Miller's home at the time of the incident, the detective said.

Lafayette Martin

Martin died less than 24 hours after the shooting. Her statement to Hernandez was admissible under the "dying declaration" exception to the hearsay rule.

Officer Anthony Teneyuque testified he spoke with Martin, who was on her back near the doorway of a bedroom. Martin was in a pool of blood, “writhing in pain, screaming,” Teneyuque said.

Already aware of what Martin said to Hernandez, Teneyuque asked her other questions, but “her statements were too few and far between,” he said. Martin told him that she and Miller were arguing “about an open door” and that she believed Miller shot her three times with a handgun.

After medical personnel placed Martin in an ambulance, Teneyuque searched the perimeter of the house and found a clear bag with “chunks” of apparent crack cocaine in the backyard about 10 feet from a window, he testified.

Officer Doug Jordan testified he heard Teneyuque relay information about the backyard, and, as he walked there, he found a revolver about 25 feet from the rear door of the house. Jordan said the gun was “pointing up” in day-old snow, and that there was a divot in the ground where the gun appeared to have bounced.

An autopsy by Saginaw County Medical Examiner Kanu Virani showed that Martin died due to blood loss, Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Richard King said. Martin was shot in the lower torso below her abdomen, and Virani found the bullet in her left buttocks, King said the report stated.

The most recent incident involving Martin and Miller in court records is a 2011 case in which a jury convicted Miller of a misdemeanor charge of malicious destruction of property worth less than $200 and acquitted him of a misdemeanor charge of malicious destruction of a building causing over $200 but less than $1,000 in damage and two felony counts of resisting and obstructing a police officer. The court ordered Miller to have no contact with Martin, who was listed as the victim.

Miller in February 2009 was sentenced to two years in prison for possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony and $1,000 in fines and costs for possessing a firearm as a felon for a 2007 assault in which Martin was the victim.

That assault occurred a year after Martin told police Miller fired a shotgun twice inside their house. Miller eventually pleaded guilty in that case to possessing a firearm as a felon.

In addition to the murder charge, Miller also is charged with possessing a firearm as a felon and two counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony-second offense, which carries a mandatory, consecutive five-year prison sentence.

At the conclusion of Thursday's hearing, Clark ordered Miller to remain jailed without bond.

— Andy Hoag covers courts for MLive/The Saginaw News. Email him at ahoag@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter @awhoag